BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

Steve must feel very trusting of the driving abilities of his customers. ( Either that or have some king sized Depends!!) Must be hard to see the info needed. Kinda like a co-driver looking at course notes in WRC)

SPOautos

The reason you tune in 4th gear on the street is cause it puts a lot more load on the engine. In addition the car goes thru the revs slower so you can check everything out better and get more info. You wouldnt want to tune in 3rd caues more than likely you'd blow up in 4th. I believe in the event that he or the owner is uncomfortable making 4th gear runs he would tune in 3rd but just make it extra conservative.

The reason he doesnt have a "dyno with a wind tunnel" is for 1, he cant afford it, and for 2 his customers wouldnt be able to afford it. You'd spend 100K on a decent dyno installed....much less some wind tunnel crap or whatever you were talking about, or renting out a Speedway lol

Tuning on the street is the best way to assure its not going to blow up, you dont get an accurate picture on the dyno and no matter how many bells and whistles a dyno has it wont be as good as the street.

You guys should just be gratefull that someone cares enough about the rotary engine to properly tune peoples car for a measly $300.

STEPHEN

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

True and the wind tuinnel was a joke!! As i said I know it would be very $$.And not feasable. To each his own I guess. Mine will be tuned on a dyno.In a controlled enviorment.( As much as can be controlled anyways.) I've never had any problems with a Dyno tuned engine.

cloud9

iTrader: (4)

Thats true, my hat is off to steve for his commitment to his costumers and these cars. I will stick with what I said about it being kind of irresposible. But I am glad there is somewhere willing to do it, hell I will probably be getting a tune from steve in the future so eventually I will have to step up to the plate and make my 140MPH pulls too (thank god for V1's)

pluto

Hey Eric,
I'm sorry about your engine. We'll work something out when you're ready for an upgrade.

I wish we have the room and money to get a dyno at the shop but money is always a big factor. We originally have plans to put a dyno by the showroom (near the plexiglass window) but as you can see, we don't have enough room as is. We recently aquire an additonal of another 1000sq ft (5000 sq ft total) and the bay is already full with 5 cars storing in it waiting for either engine job or turbo upgrades. That room will eventually be dedicated for engine building, inventory and fabrication. In the meantime, I'm stuck inside a 6' x 10' room porting and rebuilding engine.


As for the street tuning vs. dyno tuning, there's really not too much difference other than time factor and cost for the customer. I can usually tune a car on the street in 1-1.5 hrs. If I have to do the same on dyno, it could drag on to 3-5hrs eventhough I have been pretty good at keeping it within 2hrs limit. The difference between the two is heat soak where I have to wait at least 5-10 mins in between each run vs. making a pull, adjust the map and ready for another pull on the street. The reason behind the 4th gear pull on the street is the load difference, for a single turbo car, you can be as much as 1-1.5krpm off before seeing full boost between 3rd and 4th gear pull. That means that I'll never be able to tune those area where it needs to be. besides, 3rd gear pull happens too fast and sometimes its hard to justify where the rich/lean spot is on the cell. The road that I picked has very few traffic. The visiblity is great with several 3-5 miles straight away, we generally get a good margins of car lengths before we do a pull to avoid injurying any bystanders. I know its not the safest thing to do but we tried to be as responsible as we can.

For those who thinks its illegal and irresponsible, there're alot of things that most of us do are illegal and to others, irresponsible. Take midpipe for an example, it adds noise, pollutes air and illegal by DOT standards but 80% of the rx7 owner has it so its relative from one person's point of view to the next.

afterall, I am risking my life to the driver of the car when tuning them on the street.

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

Thanksfor the explanation Steve. I still hope to have enough people going single and needing tuning soon.( By next year hopefully, so we can get you out here to Paradise to tune some cars!!) As you said money is Always a factor. And yes we all do things that are illegal and irresponsible to others but comparing a 140 mph pull to polluting the air with HC's and noise is a pretty big stretch. Hopefully business will be booming for you and you can get a Dyno and a huge shop like we all want in our dreams. Like you I trip over the engines and turbo parts laying around the shop. Keep up the good work for the rotary community, And for damn sure be carefull on the tunig runs!

RX7UP

Steve:

I don't know you, but you got my love and respect!!!.... Going out in the middle of the night risking your life and others doing 140mph, just to tune a car is the kind of dedication and passion that keeps the Rotary Engine alive....

Jesus Christ, Malcom X, Martin Luther king and many more great people sacraficed and risk their lives for what they believed in... They made their mark in history as great real life legends....

You truly are one of the great Rotary Tuners....I don't care what anybody says... Keep up the good work

Kevin T. Wyum

In Ground Dynojets were around $21k 5 years ago. You had to do your own hole and concrete work. I think they might have actually been less. They were really trying to mass market at the time. No clue what they charge now. Regardless of moral issues Steve is right about street tuning being more accurate. You'll never replicate a 100mph wind through the radiator, IC, to the intake and sucking air out of the engine bay etc. and no carpet drying fans don't cut it : ).

That shop must get hot as hell in a Texas summer.

Kevin T. Wyum

HeatTreated

Yes, Dyno tuning was an option but as mentioned I chose the street tuning for the obvious reasons (price, accuracy) The road chosen is barren, long & open with very little traffic. (a street tuners dream spot)

Chris glad to hear things went well. If I make it down there for that D1 event going on this summer, Ill send ya a PM.

Nic, I would tell your buddy to go ahead and change his plugs, oil & double check the coolant. Other than that he's in good hands.

*p.s. Whats up with Wingsfan and others, sounding like my fukn Grandma about going 140??
It only took us a few seconds to get there and back down to normal speeds.
But hey thanks for being worried for me, go ahead and keep it on the dyno then, but dont start PM'ing me when you ***** starts growing in reverse! lol

WHIPSrx7

I am so excited along with many others from the north that Steve is going to be coming to the Rotary Revolution this (spring/summer) in Indianapolis. He tunes the cars the best and for a VERY fair price. I think we can all appreciate this especially after putting thousands of dollars worth into your engine and having the best tuning with out having to give up another limb. So, I just wanted to say none of us up here can wait to get tuned by Steve Kan the legend. Thanks again for giving us the opportunity,
Craig (Detroit, MI) You will give me the ability to take out the American muscle (NEW mustangs, camaros, and trans ams - LOL) They think they are the fastest thing ever!!!

Jason

iTrader: (5)

If you want to simulate load then you get a Mustang dyno. Street tuning will give you more of an accurate A/F reading but you can compensate for that on the dyno. One thing you cant tune on the street is the timing unless every car has an EGT gauge. For most people im sure safe timing is fine but you can pickup alot of HP from just 1-2 degree of timing advance.
I paid about $40k for my dyno and it was worth it.

My only problem with street tuning is I dont trust the guy driving the car. If something goes wrong at 140 you can kiss your *** goodby.

Side note: Im suprised that there is tuning at the Revolution. That is saying they condone going out and breaking the law. Nothing against them but Im sure if something went wrong and someone killed themselve there would be legal issues of somesort.

Jason

93BlackFD

i think steve has an EGT bung that threads into the OEM o2 sensor hole

villision

nice pics

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

Hey heattreated...We could care less that you go 140!! It 's the simple fact that you could possibly loose control of your car at 140 for ANY # of reasons. Then you may kill a bystander,Steve yourself and destroy your car!! It is encouraging people to break the law which as sports car owners is ALREADY our biggest hurdle. And your comment about *****'s growing in reversal?! Whaaa!!!? Apparently you feel that you must try tyo prove how big your ***** are. Whatever man, We weren't preachiing just concerned that one of the best tuners would act so carelessly and not think of the possible side efeects. Jason has hit it on the head!!! Wait till he wrecks a car and someone dies or is seriously hurt, No more tuning for Mr. Steve!! It is just plain flatout stupid No matter What you think the advantages are. If he can't compensate for those factors at this point in his tuning carrer,...Maybe he is not as good as we all think. After all, He has tuned enough cars to get the general idea of the differences lost on the dynos. Also,...There are a pretty good number of memebers who are actually police officers,....I think they might just frown upon the idea of Steve's tuning methods. 40K is a small price to pay compared to someones car and LIFE!!!! It's just NOT worth doing on public roads. Later, P.S .This whole conversation really makes me change my mind about having Steve tune for me.( I want someone who is responsible,...And this behavior is not!) This just may be bad for business.

ReodDai

This is a pointless arguement you can loose control of your car going 20mph and kill a bystander. You can loose control going 60 on the freeway and kill 10 people easily. Life is full of risks. Get over it or hurry up and pass on so the rest of us can enjoy ourselves.

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

Whatever!! I guess ignorance is bigger in Texas as well!!

RX7UP

BigIslandSeven: Stop whining you sound like a broken record.... People are going to think you are jealous of Steve or something... We got your point already along time ago... Drop the topic

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

your right! I am Very jealous of Steve's abilities to tune a car! As are you and everyone else that can't!! I am not afraid to say that! Sorry my common sense logic bothers you.( Sorry i have lost friends at the hands of stupid ****** drivers that think they are racers!!) I was just looking for a explanation with reasons that rationalized the action. Still haven't seen it .. Sorry!! Again, You Damn right I'm jealous of Steve's ability to tune a car!! So are you.

HeatTreated

thats great. Now go lurk on another thread!

'shaka bro'

matty

whoa there....lets not make him sound like a martyr now. Lets remeber that ultimately he is in business to make money...just like everyone else.
I think $300 isnt "measly" either....i got my car tuned by kd for 150.

No disrespect intended to anyone....just calling them how i see it.

jdhuegel1

I saw a quote for 26K completely installed.. I'll have to dig it up.

FD_Newb_1974

If I'm not mistaken, Steve does his tuning outside of Gotham's name. Steve doesn't force anyone to tune on the street, it's an option, and he's willing to pursue it for our benefit. If Steve didn't travel to tune cars (which isn't possible with MOST dyno's), my car wouldn't have been tuned. I'm willing to be there are others here in the same boat.

As far as the tuning goes, I was scared all to hell. One, it was a new car to me..barely broken in. Two, if I got caught, I was going to jail. Three, the actual cost associated with the consequences of tuning on the street. However, I knew street tuning was best for my car which I just dropped a lot of cake into. All things considered, going 140 miles an hour was the thing I was LEAST concerned with.

The road was scouted, was elevated. The section of road we were tuning on was divided, and separated, with a concrete barrier and multiple lanes. Additionally, there were no on/off ramps on the section we were tuning. I think it's an oximoron to say we did it responsibly. However, we did it as responsibly as possible.

I love my car, love the tuning, and love the experience of having taken my car from 50'ish to 140 (I think, I didn't look down).

ReodDai

Not sure how ignorance fit into what I said. All I said was get over it and stop whining. Its ok Big Kahuna we forgive you for not having anything better to do.

Kevin T. Wyum

Trev is a good example. He had an enormous amount of potential (did most of the fabrication work on the headers for my twin turbos) but got just a little bit careless on a public road. He and the passenger died at all of about 24 years old or so. Keep in mind in a reasonably tuned car you can be hitting 125 from a dead stop in 11 seconds flat. 140 sounds a little more dramatic than it really is in a modified 3rd gen. That doesn't mean I'm condoning it but I've certainly done it myself plenty of times in the past.

Kevin T. Wyum

jdhuegel1

Guys, Dave (BigIslandSevens) has been a great help to me and many others on the forum. Stand up guy. He's not even the one that pointed out the safety and responsibility issues of street tuning.. No need to bash all over him. He has opinions like everyone else. Both sides have valid points. Yes 140 is not exactly safe on the street.. But not many things are these days... Can we get back to something productive like discussing how to replicate real driving envirnments in a facility with a dyno?